LINDEN — North Montgomery baseball needed a bounce back game on Tuesday as they hosted Tri-West for the second game of their Sagamore Conference series. The Bruins took the first game on a walk-off home run in the ninth inning on Monday so the Chargers would look to go for a split as they had their ace Jarrod Kirsch on the mound. In what turned out to be a back and forth affair, just like on Monday when the Bruins won on their last at-bat, the Chargers returned the favor as Ross Dyson drew a bases loaded walk to give North Montgomery a 10-9 win and a split with the Bruins.
In the win the Chargers showed their patience at the plate as Bruins pitchers walked a total of 18 Chargers. The strike zone was just as tight for Kirsch when he was on the mound as he walked seven Bruins in four and two-thirds innings pithced while giving up eight runs but just one of those was earned. Brayden Martin picked up the win in relief as he threw two and a third innings and gave up five hits and a single earned run.
“The pressure was all on the pitchers to throw strikes tonight,” Chargers coach Matt Voorhees said. “It was a little bit of a learning experience for our hitters who are typically aggressive at the plate. They had to lay off some pitches they might normallly swing and make the pitcher throw a strike or have the umpire call a strike. Everyone I think is neck and neck in our conference and that has been proven with how many teams have split their match ups. We continually tell our kids than any team can beat you on any given night and thankfully we were able to earn a split this evening.”
The Chargers tallied just five hits in the win. Austin Sulc led the offense with two hits and three RBI’s. Brookes Walters drew four walks and scored four runs while also picking up a hit to extend his hitting streak to now 23 games. Dyson led the way with 4 RBI’s in the win.
North Montgomery improves to 15-8 (9-4 SAC) on the season with the win. Next up on the schedule will be a very tough test for the Chargers as they will travel to take on the No. 3 ranked team in Class A, in Lafayette Central Catholic.
Following the game against the Knights the Chargers will round out their Sagamore Conference schedule on Friday as they welcome county rival Southmont.
North Montgomery will conclude the regular season with games on Saturday at Harrison and next Monday at Greencastle before opening up sectional play on Wednesday agasint Lebanon at Crawfordsville.
